


Tripped

by CatrinaSL



Series: FYDL Darcyland POC Week [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, FYDL Darcyland POC Week, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, meet ugly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 05:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6840397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rated for Worst Day Ever swears.</p><p>Can meeting your Soulmate make up for the Worst Day Ever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tripped

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the [FYDL Darcyland POC Week](http://fuckyeahdarcylewis.tumblr.com/post/142956235617/fydl-poc-week-a-darcyland-event-may-9th)! Enjoy the awesome.
> 
> Soulmark AU Reminder: Everyone has a Soulmark, a tattoo of the first words their Soulmate will say to them. Showing someone else your Soulmark is like baring your soul to them, so most people only show their Soulmate or very trusted friends.

Everything was wrong.

Well, not  _ everything _ . She had woken up that morning. But it all had gone downhill from there.

The coffee was gone. Bruce apologized for drinking it, and he hadn't realized it was the last of her favorite kind, so she forgave him and drank some of Tony's swill.

She forgot her iPod on the drive down to Jane’s lecture at Culver, so they were stuck with the radio (and the radio  _ commercials _ ) for hours.

After making sure Jane had everything she needed to blow the minds of a bunch of undergrads, Darcy grabbed some real coffee at her old stomping grounds (grounds, get it?), and then headed for her favorite fast, cheap, fake Mexican food place. She sipped as she walked across campus, letting memories of her time there wash over her and trying to decide what to get for lunch. 

They had changed the menu the last time she had been around, and gotten rid of the item she usually ordered. She wouldn't have called it her  _ favorite _ thing, because nobody really had a favorite thing at Compañeros. Everything was equally sucky there, but everyone found something they were least disgusted by, even though nobody actually enjoyed the food (unless they were drunk, which, let's be honest, any restaurant that is open after the bars close near a college campus is going to be ambrosia to an intoxicated college student). Compañeros was a Culver experience, the culinary equivalent of Stockholm syndrome.

But when Darcy got there, it was gone.

Not just the taquitos or the cinnamon/sugar crispies or the roast beef quesadillas (roast beef quesadillas? Who in their right mind ever thought  _ that _ was a good idea?), but the whole building, drive thru, dining room, parking lot, and all.

"When did  _ this _ happen?!" Darcy demanded of the innocent sign declaring that there would soon be a brand new frat house on that particular plot of real estate.

"Six months ago," a passerby informed her, somehow able to tear himself away from his smartphone.

"But now I'm going to have to actually eat something that  _ tastes _ good!" Darcy protested.

"Yeah, it's rough," he agreed, elevating his phone for a signal, Lion King-esque. "Try Stanley’s. Hey, are you getting internet?"

Darcy checked her own device. "Of course I'm not. Because this is the shittiest of all shit days."

"I hear you," encouraged the random college student.

Darcy turned and stomped back toward the lecture hall, hoping she could talk Jane into leaving early (instead of chatting with colleagues), grabbing some fast food, and then getting back to the city so that she could talk Tony into buying her the biggest, New Yorkiest pizza ever to pizza.

And then someone ran out of the alley between the admin building and the library and slammed into her, spilling the rest of her coffee (there was only about a fourth of it left, but  _ still _ ) and sprawling her onto the sidewalk.

And that was the end. She was done.

"I quit," she told him. "Today is over. Tomorrow can try again if it wants, but it's gonna have to be pretty amazing to make up for today. Coffee disasters, no iPod or internet,  _ Compañeros is gone _ ; tomorrow's gonna have to bring its A game."

He smiled down at her and offered her a hand up. "I'm sorry. I can only take the blame for about two of those things, but if you want, I can make some promises about the future."

Darcy had put her hand in his as he spoke, but made no movement to get up after hearing the Words that were wrapped around her calf.

"Nice try, Today, but handing me my Soulmate doesn't quite make up for having to listen to the O'Bailey's Auto Parts jingle for four hours."

"Hey, Trip, time to go," came a voice from above. Darcy spotted a girl who was sticking her head out of a second floor Admin window, scanning the area. "I got the internet back up, and Coulson wants us to go before anyone gets suspi—oh."

Trip pulled Darcy to her feet. "Skye, this is my Soulmate," he said.

"Darcy Lewis," Darcy said, waving with her free hand.

"Darcy Lewis," he repeated, smiling at her. His helping hand turned into a handshake. "Antoine Triplett."

"Yeah, congratulations and everything guys, but Trip, we really gotta go," the girl urged, then disappeared from the window. Darcy frowned.

"Duty calls," Trip told her, looking reluctant to leave. "It's not a great time to trade contact information, but I can find you if you give me a little more than just your name. What's your—"

But Darcy stopped him with a hand. "Did she just say 'Coulson?'"

**Author's Note:**

> After they sort out the whole “whoops we forgot to tell you S.H.I.E.L.D. is back” thing (and Maria Hill nearly loses her job), Trip comes to work for the Avengers as sneakytimes support staff/S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison. Everything is wonderful and fantastic and (SPOILER ALERT) everybody lives and nobody dies.
> 
> Darcy likes Stanley’s, but she hasn’t been inside the place since she was very loudly dumped there once. ( _So_ embarrassing.)
> 
> Maybe crappy fake Mexican food is a Midwest United States thing, but I believe it ought to be an every-college-campus thing. Shout out to everyone who has had a taco at 3 am on the way home from the bars. It may have been me in the drive thru. I worked at 3 different fake Mexican places while I was in college, one of which continues to systematically eliminate the only menu items worth eating, and another of which actually did (and probably still does) have a roast beef chimichanga on the menu. (And yes, it is exactly as ridiculous and disgusting as it sounds.) Would I be sad if any of these terrible places were to vanish? Probably. But not as upset as I would be if I have to listen to the O’Reilly’s jingle even _one_ more time.
> 
> [Reblog on tumblr](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com/post/144346735233/tripped)
> 
> Tumblr: [catrinasl](http://catrinasl.tumblr.com)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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